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HARRISBURG, PA (August 25, 2021) – Gov. Tom Wolf today sent a letter to state legislative leaders calling on them to return to session as soon as possible to work with him to enact legislation requiring schools and child care centers to implement masking requirements while in the classroom.
PSEA President Rich Askey issued the following statement:
“PSEA has been strongly encouraging school districts to require universal masking in all K-12 school buildings. We know that masking up in our schools is essential to keeping kids learning in person in the classroom all year, especially with the surging Delta variant that affects young people more aggressively than the original strain of the virus.
“This is so important that we believe policymakers should explore all possible avenues to ensuring our schools remain safe, including legislative action, if that is the best way to achieve this.
“We call on legislative leaders and the governor to work together to ensure our schools implement masking policies that will keep everyone safe through this school year. And, in the meantime, we continue to urge school district leaders to follow CDC guidance and adopt universal masking policies as students return to school.”
Askey is a Harrisburg music teacher and the president of PSEA. An affiliate of the National Education Association, PSEA represents about 178,000 active and retired educators and school employees, student teachers, higher education staff, and health care workers in Pennsylvania.
